The Strangers
by StarWarsRocksMySocks
Summary: Ahsoka didn't believe in true evil. The Separatists were bad, but evil? She didn't think so. However, a hidden organisation soon changes Ahsoka's view on what evil truly is... (Sort of a rewrite for Torture and Trust. Same concept, different storyline!) Rated T for torture and dark themes. Summary may change.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"So you're telling me that there's an organisation out there that are worse than the Separatists?" Ahsoka asked, walking beside Anakin, trying to keep up with his long strides. They were on their back to their shared quarters after a training session in the sparing room. Their topic had drifted onto the Separatists and all the bad people in the universe.

"Well, they definitely don't have as much power as the Separatists or even Death Watch. I just think what they're about and what they do is worse." Anakin said, gritting his teeth as he thought. He was getting sick of all these organisations causing trouble. "But we don't know much about them at all – they're pretty secret. That's how they like to keep it."

Ahsoka raised a brow, curiosity getting the best of her, "What do we already know about them? This is the first I've heard about a new organisation." Perhaps down to the fact she'd been out on mission's non-stop recently. She'd only recently returned from her mission of guiding younglings to the caves of Ilum and then she was out again on another mission after recovering from the fatigue and malnourishment. The council really did like stacking missions on top of her and Anakin.

The master and Padawan rounded a corner, "They aren't new, Ahsoka. They've been around a lot longer than we had thought. Only recently we received information about them – before that we didn't even know they existed. All we know is that they're some kind of organisation who stalk certain people and kidnap them. We know that the people who have been taken get tortured but we don't know why or how or where. We have no idea where they are based or how big they are or their intentions. But there's more," He paused.

"More?" Ahsoka questioned. She didn't like how this group sounded – it seemed terrifying. Whoever this group were – she didn't even know their name – she didn't want to encounter them. But from what she was hearing she felt a small burning determination to take these guys down and burn them to the ground. She hated people who cause others pain for no reason.

"Yes." Anakin stopped and looked at her seriously, "The leader is said to be a complete psychopath. He keeps the victims in some sort of house – but that's all we know. He 'looks after' them while they aren't in the torture chambers. We've seen pictures of some of the chambers… What those victims would have gone through… I can't get the images out of my head. There's a reason only a few select people within the republic have seen them. I've seen holo images of children chained to the wall with missing limbs, broken bones. They target certain people but no one knows why. It's awful."

Ahsoka looked at him, concerned. It wasn't often Anakin went quiet or showed how the war affected him. They were both very similar in their personalities and they both hated to show weakness. Sometimes it was tough when one of them was upset – they were both stubborn as hell and it could be frustrating.

Ahsoka sighed, "I don't like the sound of these guys. What are they even called?"

"The call themselves the Strangers."

Ahsoka raised a brow, "The Strangers? Sounds like some sort of lower level gang." Ahsoka said in disgust.

Anakin shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows, maybe they are. We have no idea where they are based. We know nothing apart from what I told you."

"They sound like scum. They do that stuff to kids? It's disgusting… What do they even want with kids? It's not like they are going to have any useful information anything." Ahsoka pondered as she and Anakin entered their quarters.

Anakin leant against the counter in the small kitchen area, "Exactly. You have to be sick to want to harm kids…" Anakin stopped for a moment and cleared his throat, "The Jedi are trying to come up with a plan to take them down. We're sending out research teams to planets with high crime rates to see if we can gather any information about them. A team is setting off to the lower levels of Coruscant tomorrow and more will be dispatched shortly to other planets. The Republic are doing everything they can to hide this from the public – if word gets out, things won't go down well. The rates of missing people have raised a considerable amount over the past standard year and we fear it's the Strangers. Children, men and women are just disappearing out of nowhere, never to be heard from again."

Ahsoka blinked hard and sat down on the couch, with her head in her hands, deep in thought. These people were sick – there was no doubt about that. How anyone could hurt innocent people, she didn't know. Just thinking about this group made her anxious – no one knew of their intentions. Anakin had said they didn't have enough power to amount up to the Separatists but that didn't put her mind at ease. From what she had been told she would much rather be in the Separatists' clutches than the Strangers'. Not that she'd like to be in any, anyway. Seeing the way that it had affected Anakin, she knew this organisation were something to be afraid of. The 'Hero with No Fear' had looked borderline haunted while discussing the images he had seen.

But why? What would possess people to such a thing?

Ahsoka lay her head down on the arm of the couch and curled into herself. She imagined the fear and the terror the victims must have felt during their torture and torment. Who knows what those sicko's were doing to those poor people.

Anakin watched his Padawan and felt the negative emotions through their bond, "Ahsoka try not to think about it too much. I only told you because it's possible that we may have to escort some of the research parties. I'd rather you hear it from me instead of the council. Judging from how many missions they've thrown at us over the past few months, it's likely that we'll be chosen." He sat down next to her on the couch and patted her leg in a small effort of comfort.

Ahsoka sighed, "I just don't understand how someone could do that. They formed an organisation just to torture people? What do they get out of that? Entertainment? Money? It's pathetic… It's disgusting." She spat. They were worse than slavers – worse than the Separatists. She wished they had been discovered sooner so they could have ended them before they even got started.

Again, he rubbed her calf in a comforting way, "We don't know, Ahsoka. But we're going to take them down. I don't care how, but we'll do it."

With the comforting thought of destroying the organisation and Anakin's soothing voice, Ahsoka drifted off to sleep.

 **….**

Ahsoka awoke early in the morning, as usual. Thankfully she had had no dreams about the Strangers – however, as soon as she opened her eyes, thoughts of that disgusting organisation flooded her mind and she felt her heart drop as she remembered everything Anakin had told her the day before.

She wasn't shocked to find herself curled up on the sofa as she remembered falling asleep there. She couldn't sense Anakin so she figured he'd already left.

Since Ahsoka wasn't assigned any missions she figured she'd visit the sparing rooms or do some physical training. Days off didn't mean she could just sit around and relax – she liked to keep busy and keep on top of her training. If she wanted to be Knight she'd have to work for it.

She wondered who else knew about this torture group. Would any other of the Padawan's know? Maybe the older, more experienced learners? After all she was only sixteen and had only been an apprentice for two years. Surely the most experienced Knights and Padawan's would be taking over the mission involved with the Strangers.

Then again, there was a reason Ahsoka had graduated to the rank of Padawan early. The Jedi wouldn't make her a Commander in the war if they didn't think she was good enough.

She'd been tortured before - when she'd dressed as a Togrutan princess slave on Zygerria. It was an unpleasant experience but it was nothing compared to what the Strangers apparently did to their captives - just thinking about sent shivers down her spine. The only form of torture she had experienced from the Zygerrian slave workers were shocks from an electricity shock collar.

The Separatists – well, some of them – were bad people. From meeting Lux and his mother, she had realised that not all Separatists were supporters of the war. The military officers like Grievous and Dooku were the bad guys. They hurt innocents, tortured people and took over defenceless planets. She never imagined anyone to be as disgusting as them until yesterday.

Thinking about it all hurt her head but she just couldn't stop it. Images of blood stained walls and injured, helpless people filled her mind. She imagined the blades that sliced through soft skin, the needles that injected foreign chemicals, the binders and chains that kept the poor victims trapped and caged like animals.

She needed to stop thinking about it.

Her comm suddenly beeped and she bought it up to her mouth, "Tano."

"Ahsoka," Anakin's voice crackled though the comlink, "I just finished my meeting with the council, want to go and grab some food? I'm starved."

Ahsoka felt as if her heart had skipped. She bet that the Strangers starved their victims until they begged for food. She bet that they teased the captives and waved food in front of them like you do with a slice of meat when teasing an animal. Suddenly she didn't feel so hungry. "Sure, Master. I'll just grab a sandwich or something. See you in the canteen." She switched off her comm before Anakin could finish off his sentence. She didn't want Anakin to know how much this all was affecting her. She had been his apprentice for two years now but she still hated showing any kind of weakness. She still wanted to make him proud.

She met with Anakin shortly after their conversation. The pair sat themselves down at an isolated table in the back of the canteen. There was an absence of the usual buzz in the food hall. It was like that a lot these days – so many missions and things to do, everyone was always out. Ahsoka constantly felt she was stood on a floor that moved, as if she were passing through life so quickly. Almost every day she was out on a mission, fighting on the battlefield. The days just rushed past her, like a blur.

Ahsoka picked at her sandwich, not really eating it. "What was your meeting about, Master?" She placed her sandwich down, telling herself to either stop fiddling with it or to just eat it.

Anakin tapped his knife on the table while he spoke, "Some research specialists are going to the lower levels today. Tomorrow another group are going to Takkar and another to Kantoo. We need to take these guys down – who knows who could be the next victim? They could be targeting a Senator. The council are also discussing assigning certain senators a bodyguard. Padmé will most likely need one – she's done a lot for the Republic and she used to be the Queen of Naboo." Anakin put down his cutlery and spoke seriously.

Ahsoka pushed her plate to the side and leant forward, speaking quietly, as if they were being watched and monitored, "I thought we didn't know what side they were on."

Anakin mimicked her actions and slid his plate away, folding his arms as he moved closer, "We don't. The council are narrowing down potential targets, people who have affected outcomes of battles, referendums, anything like that. Remember when Padmé was shot? That's why we need to keep our eyes peeled and keep an extra eye on some Senators and other important people."

Ahsoka leant back against her chair, deep in thought. Anakin had a point; there was no doubt about that. But no Senators had been reported missing. From what she had heard it seemed to be regular civilians who were taken. Ahsoka blinked, "Who do you think they want next?"

Anakin signed and put his head in his hands, clearly stressed about the whole situation, "I don't know, Ahsoka. I don't know."

 **….**

 **So I know I'm supposed to be focusing on my other current story but a dream I had completely inspired this and I had to get it out. If you have read my pervious story, Torture and Trust, you'll see that this one is very similar – so I'm sort of classing it as a rewrite but I'm changing some big things. But basically, before my dream, I was just browsing the internet and I watched some youtube videos about the deep/dark web. Now obviously, I have never been on that side of the internet and never will, but the topic itself does interest me greatly. I think a lot of the stuff that is on there is disgusting but like I said, it really does interest me so I like to spend reading about it and stuff. I watched a video about horrific things that people have witnessed on the deep web and one of them was about torture with a rather detailed description of what happened in the video on the deep web. So I fell asleep not long after watching the video and I had a really terrifying dream about being held captive in a 'torture school' or something and being tortured and it inspired me to write this – like I said, I'm going to class this as a rewrite of Torture and Trust BUT there are going to be some major changes so It'd be great if you still read even if you have read the original story. To add to this, I wrote Torture and Trust when I was about 12/13? So obviously this will be better in terms of English writing skills. This story will obviously be a little different from my crazy dream. Thank you, please review and let me know if I should carry on!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Another research team was dispatched today, Little 'Soka." Plo Koon said, his arms crossed behind his back as they walked back from the Council chambers.

Ahsoka hadn't seen much of her old friend recently, with how busy she had been. Despite the troubled times, it was nice to see him and catch up with him. "Master Skywalker was telling me about it. This group sounds dangerous." Ahsoka crossed her arms as they strolled, rubbing her upper arms as the thought of the Strangers sent a chilling shiver down her spine.

Plo nodded his head slowly, "Indeed. The council are growing somewhat anxious. We fear their next target will be somebody within the senate. We may be thinking too much about it, but at this point in the war, we need to be cautious. We need as many supporters as possible." Plo spoke, his voice slow, almost sounding slurred through his mask.

Ahsoka almost cringed – it was times like this where she wished Plo didn't speak so slow. It only seemed to make the group seem more devious and creepy. She didn't like it.

Ahsoka tried to stay optimistic, "I'm sure everything will be okay. Anakin told me that in the past they usually only pick civilians off of the streets. If they want to stay private they wouldn't go as far as kidnapping a senator would they?" Maybe she was trying to kid herself.

Plo raised a hand to his chin, "That's a valid point, Little 'Soka. However, Skywalker may not be correct. We only have little information on this group and we are unsure if it is even reliable. Hopefully you are right – it would be a big setback for the Republic if a senator was taken."

"I dread to think about what the victims go through… Anakin told me that the images he'd seen were awful…" Ahsoka said, eyes downcast. Why couldn't she get this organisation out of her head?

Plo looked at her, concerned, "I know how you must feel, Ahsoka. You live to help people and when you can't, it upsets you. That's okay." He wrapped his arm around Ahsoka's shoulder comfortingly.

Ahsoka laid her head on his shoulder for a brief moment, thinking back to when Plo found her. It was comforting to think about when he had discovered her. How gently he had lifted her into his arms, his gentle voice greeting her with a soft "Koh-to-ya, little one".

It surprised her how she remembered that from such a young age, but it was a memory she never wanted to forget.

He withdrew his arm after a moment, "Try not to think about it, Ahsoka. The most you'll be expected to do is to escort a research team – you may not even be selected. It just depends on who is available and when."

Ahsoka sighed, "I understand, Master Plo."

… **..**

Hours later, after a meal in the mess hall and a few games of holochess, the pair walked back to the council chambers. Plo certainly had taken her mind off of the Strangers. He was good at cheering her up – he always had been. He knew he better than anyone (minus Anakin) and knew exactly how to make her feel better and take her mind off things. After all, he had known her for almost her whole life.

Ahsoka decided to walk with him back to the council room so she could spend a bit of extra time with him even though it was the complete opposite direction than her living quarters. Anakin wouldn't be back until late anyway so she'd just be by herself. Not that she minded staying alone… sometimes it was just too quiet and sometimes the silence sent her crazy.

They stopped outside of the council chambers. Plo placed a hand on the shorter girls shoulder, "Try to not think about it, Little 'Soka. You'll only wind yourself up and that's not you. I'll see you soon."

Ahsoka nodded gently and they bowed to each other. Ahsoka turned and began to walk back to her quarters slowly. Anakin still wouldn't be back for a few hours yet. She figured she'd just have an early night and gather up some strength – after all, she didn't know when she'd next be called out onto a mission.

When she eventually reached her quarters, she collapsed onto her bed. Thinking too much exhausted her mind. Questions about this organisation filled her head. Were they force users? How many people did they hold at once? Were they based in a dingy underground bunker or a huge castle?

So many questions and she knew the answers to none of them. It was frustrating. She had thought about researching about them in the library but they had research teams for that. They were experts, professionals. It's what they did for a living. She most likely wouldn't find anything useful.

Knowing that there were people out there trying to gather crucial information was somewhat comforting but still didn't put her mind at ease. They had used research teams before and had been successful. Ahsoka had faith in them, knowing that they were excellent at their jobs.

So why did she feel so anxious?

Ahsoka wrapped her arms around her pillow and buried her face into it. Maybe if she smothered herself enough she'd pass out and wake up in two weeks' time and this would be all over? The research teams would've found them and taken them down with no problems at all.

Maybe that idea was a little unrealistic…

For hours she tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable. One minute she was too warm, next second she was cold or she just couldn't get comfortable. Her bed was luxurious compared to some of the things she'd slept on in the past, like when she had been captured by the Trandoshans and she spent her nights lay on tree roots on in some isolated cave.

She felt herself drifting off just as she heard Anakin walk through the main door of their quarters. She groaned in frustration and sat up, knowing she wouldn't be able to find sleep now. So much for going to bed early…

She opened her bedroom door, rubbing her eyes. She spotted Anakin spread out on the couch. He popped his head over the couch when he heard her door open, "Ahsoka what are you still doing up?"

Ahsoka picked up Anakin's legs and moved them to make room for her to sit, "I couldn't sleep." She said, stretching out her tired limbs. Her knees cracked awkwardly, as did her elbows.

Anakin laughed gently to himself, "That's a sign you're getting old."

Ahsoka propped her leg up beside her, leaning it against the arm of the couch, "If I'm getting old then Master Kenobi is ancient and I think we'll need to start organising a funeral pretty soon."

Anakin chuckled and stretched out his legs too. They didn't make a sound. "See, I'm perfectly healthy and fit. Maybe you need to visit the gym more often."

Ahsoka raised a brow, "I practically have a six pack. I don't think I need to visit the gym that often. Master Kenobi on the other hand…" She drifted off to add effect.

They both burst out into laughter. "We best not tell Obi-Wan that. You know how he gets when we make fun of him." Anakin said, pulling off his boots, trying to relax a little.

Ahsoka had changed into her bed wear a little over two hours ago. Some shorts and a baggy t shirt were comfy enough for her to sleep in. She rubbed her eyes again as she felt fatigue prodding at her mind again. She took a deep breath and scrunched her eyes shut.

"Ahsoka, why don't you just go back to bed? I'm turning in soon, as well. You'll be the only one awake." He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes as he spoke, making it evident how tired he was. Ahsoka yawned in reply and Anakin gave her a gentle shove, directing her to her room. "Just go to sleep, I'll wake you up if I need to. Tired Ahsoka isn't good Ahsoka." He laughed gently and she stood up and quietly walked back into her room. He could hear her flop onto her bed and he knew she'd fall asleep almost instantly.

Anakin rose to his feet as soon as he felt himself drifting off. He didn't want to risk a sore neck from falling asleep on the couch.

He mimicked Ahsoka's actions and fell onto his bed, his body crashing down onto the not-so-soft mattress. Why is it when you were so tired, everything felt comfortable?

Within minutes he was asleep.

 _ **ONE WEEK LATER**_

Anakin and Ahsoka had been in the sparing room for the past hour. After a hard training session they decided to call it a day and go visit Padmé for a relaxing lunch. Anakin had said it would be a nice surprise for her, since she had just returned from a trip from Alderaan.

Just as they were about to exit the temple and walk down the grand steps, Anakin's comm buzzed. He groaned, irritated, and rolled his eyes. He tried to make it sound that he wasn't at all aggravated, "Skywalker here."

"Skywalker, report to the council chambers immediately." Mace Windu's harsh voice crackled through the tiny comlink.

Anakin sighed before replying, "We'll be there right away."

Ahsoka groaned, "Do I have to come? They only asked for you." She really didn't fancy standing in a room surrounded by Jedi masters that looked like they were assessing you from all angles, picking out the flaws and judging you.

"Yes, Ahsoka. Nine times out of ten they want you to be present as well when they ask for me. So come on, stop moaning." He said, turning on his heel and walking briskly in the direction of the council chambers.

Ahsoka sped off after him, "There's no need to be grumpy because you can't see Padmé, Anakin. She'll be there tomorrow. You see her at least once a week too. Lighten up a little." She said as she caught up with him.

Anakin just ignored her and Ahsoka rolled her eyes. He had serious mood swings sometimes but she'd learnt to deal with them. Staying quiet and not saying much usually worked out. It gave him peace and quiet, enough to sort out his attitude problem.

She knew that Anakin wasn't too fond of the council, minus a few individuals such as Plo and Obi-Wan. Sometimes they made stupid decisions – even Ahsoka couldn't deny that.

It wasn't long before they reached the council chambers. Ahsoka side glanced at Anakin, who had a face that looked like he was ready to rip somebody in two – most likely Master Windu.

They entered silently and bowed in time when they reached the centre of the room. Ahsoka took note of who was present and who wasn't. Most of the council members were present in the flesh – the rest were just flickering blue holograms sat in their rightful seats. Ahsoka got the feeling that this meeting was important, especially because there were no vacant seats.

Mace Windu leant back in his chair and bought a dark hand to his chin, "All four of our research teams have returned. Nothing has been discovered in regards to the organisation. We are dispatching these teams again along with six more." He leant forward, his hands clasped together with his elbows on his knees. Just as he was about to continue, blue flickered and flashed in the middle of the room, exactly where Anakin and Ahsoka stood.

Confused, the pair glanced at each other before stepping aside to the left to make room for the foreign light. A hologram appeared of a man wearing a mask that covered his facial details. All that could be seen of his head was a small amount of dark hair peeking out from the mask.

Anakin and Ahsoka glanced at each other and then at the rest of the council members – they seemed just as surprised as they were.

The holographic man spoke, his voice rough and menacing, "Good day, Jedi."

Ahsoka spotted Mace narrowing his eyes out of the corner of her eyes. No one had a clue what was going on and that made Ahsoka slightly nervous.

He spoke again and Ahsoka swore she felt shivers crawling down her spine. She had a bad feeling about this. "You don't know who I am, but I certainly know who you are. Of course you are wondering who I am and how we hacked into your holographic system to send you this message." He chuckled before slamming his fist onto what Ahsoka assumed was a nearby table, "Do not come looking for us. Do not inform the media about us. Do not send out any more of your pathetic research teams. We have eyes and ears everywhere. You didn't even come close to finding us so give up now before you regret it."

If this guy's intention was to threaten, it certainly worked. Ahsoka technically wasn't even in the man's presence yet she felt so uncomfortable. She partly blamed it on the fact that you couldn't see his face – the mask hiding his face made it all the more creepy.

The man in the mask chuckled again, as if he could sense the discomfort radiating off of the teenager. "I hope I made myself clear. You've been warned." The hologram flickered away but a second later reappeared, repeating the same message.

Master Yoda flicked his wrist and the hologram disappeared. His deep voice broke the silence, "Disturbing, this is. Discovered that we are searching for them, the Strangers have."

Obi-Wan spoke, his hand stroking his beard thoughtfully, "The recording played more than once. It wasn't live, which means that it was pre-recorded and they've known about our search before now. They could've known for days." He crossed his arms and appeared deep in thought.

"Complicated things, this has." Said Yoda, eyes scanning across everyone present in the room.

Mace spoke with a booming voice, confident in his words, "We have to send out more teams. How else are we going to stop this organisation?"

Anakin was next to voice his opinion, "With all due respect, Master Windu, but you heard that maniac. That was a warning. Something will happen to us if we retaliate. We have to be careful about this."

Shaak Ti nodded, "I agree with Skywalker. We have to be tactical. They're clearly a fair few steps ahead of us." Ahsoka agreed with Anakin too – they'd no doubt do something terrible if the council decided to send out more.

Mace spoke again, "There is no other way. We've tried to be secret; there is nothing else we can do. These research teams are the best of the best."

No one spoke. The tension could be cut with a knife and Ahsoka felt like she was stood in the middle of some sort of hurricane. She agreed with Anakin but Mace was right – there wasn't exactly another way. These research teams were the best of the best – they all had incredibly high IQ's and some were even force sensitive, which helped a great deal. They were a dream team, they could solve any problem, any mystery.

Mace scanned his eyes over everyone in the room. The only sound that could be heard was the slight buzz from the holograms. "That's settled then, more search teams will be dispatched tomorrow. Skywalker, you and your Padawan will escort one of them. Report here tomorrow first thing. Dismissed."

Ahsoka gulped and bowed before turning and exiting the council chambers. What the hell was Windu thinking?

… **.**

 **Eh, sorry for the boring chapter. I'm just setting up the atmosphere, etc. Hope you enjoyed it anyway, please review? They really do inspire me, so if you want an update, please review! Also, thanks to the people who have reviewed already!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Ahsoka sighed as she threw herself down into the co-pilot seat. She crossed her arms and put up her feet against the control board, "Three days on this pathetic excuse of a planet and they found nothing. What a waste of time."

Anakin sat next to her in the pilot seat of the ship they had borrowed, _The Swarm._ "Ahsoka we may not even be on the right planet. They're searching on planets with high crime rates and some other teams are following up on some leads. Whether they are reliable, I don't know. It may take time to find these freaks." He looked at her in some effort to comfort her. He knew that she was taking the search for the Strangers hard and it was exhausting for her. Not that he blamed her at all. He felt the same, he was just better at hiding it than she was.

Ahsoka let out a deep breath and Anakin assumed she was trying to calm herself down. "I know that. It's just frustrating that I wasted three days of my life that I'll never get back because I was pretending to be your little servant girl while the rest of your "servants" ran around trying to find some clues like on some children's show." She huffed, "Being undercover sucks."

Anakin just rolled his eyes and started up The Swarm. It ran a lot faster than the Twilight but Anakin missed his ship that was currently being repaired. He would've liked to have done it himself but he just couldn't find the time these days.

After a few moments of silence he sighed before speaking softly, "We'll find them, Ahsoka. We will. It just might take time and we have to accept that. I don't like doing this anymore than you do."

She sighed too and looked him the eyes, "I know, I'm sorry, Master. I just want to take these maniacs down. What they're doing is awful and it makes me feel sick just thinking about it…"

Anakin was happy that she was opening up to him a little. It wasn't often that Ahsoka spoke about her negative feelings. He figured it would do her some good to get them out of her system by speaking about them.

"We'll find them. When we get back to the temple, we can do our report back to the council and we'll just go to our quarters and relax okay?" He said gently, treading carefully with his words.

She nodded her head and closed her eyes, hoping to get a bit of sleep before they arrived back at the temple.

It seemed like her eyes had only been closed for two minutes when they landed back on Coruscant. She groaned groggily and rubbed her eyes, "Did I even fall asleep?" She asked sleepily.

Anakin laughed, "Yeah you did – for two hours. You were out like a light." Ahsoka noticed he seemed a bit more cheerful than he was earlier. He was seemed less serious and even less stressed.

"Doesn't feel like it." She mumbled and stood up slowly, still rubbing at her eyes. She swore she had only been asleep for two minutes. It must have been one of those sleeps where you know you're awake but then you drift off a little and when you wake up you feel like you didn't sleep at all. She was convinced she just had her eyes closed for two hours, but not actually sleeping.

Anakin's comm buzzed and he rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what was coming. "Skywalker."

"Report to the council with the details about your assignment." Mace's voice sounded through the tiny speaker on the comlink.

Anakin rolled his eyes again. "Why does he even have to tell me? It's not like we don't have to report to the council after _every_ mission we do. It's basic routine, why does he have to comm me every time?"

Ahsoka laughed a little at her masters rant.

He gave her an unimpressed look, "What's so funny?" He grumbled, picking up his walking speed a little, making it harder for the smaller girl to keep up.

Ahsoka smirked, barely noticing the change of speed, "Well, it's not you _actually_ report to the council every time you're supposed to." She gave him the side eye.

Anakin narrowed his eyes at her and didn't reply, only making Ahsoka laugh even more. Of course she was right.

They soon arrived at the council chambers. Anakin resisted the strong urge to roll his eyes when he saw Mace's expectant face. Anakin was really starting to dislike him – as was Ahsoka. Something about him just rubbed Anakin the wrong way and he just didn't like it.

Anakin spoke before Mace had a chance too, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "We found nothing, Masters. Not even a clue and we heard nothing from the locals. We spoke with a wise man who the town indicated to be extremely knowledgeable – even he had never heard of the organisation. Have we heard anything from any other of the teams?" He crossed his arms and looked towards Mace quizzically.

Mace shook his head slightly, "The same. No one has found anything."

Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke up, stoking his beard, reminding Ahsoka a little of Obi-Wan, "A standard day after your departure we gathered up a new team. We selected the best members of each research team and made a new team. They are following an anonymous tip that we received a day after you and you and Padawan Tano left. The team are due to return tomorrow. We're confident that they will find something." He said optimistically.

Ahsoka raised a brow, "Wait a second… I thought we were keeping this secret from the media? Surely no one knows that we're searching for the Strangers so how did we receive a lead?" Ahsoka was beyond confused and she felt that anxious feeling in her stomach again. The topic surrounding the organisation just got stranger and stranger. Things just didn't seem to add up.

Ahsoka looked to her right when the holographic Kit Fisto started to speak, his accent still prominent even through the holographic system, "That's why we are doing everything we can to be extra careful with this one, Padawan. It is possible that someone found something and just thought they'd inform the Jedi, as we _are_ peacekeepers." The hologram fizzled a little as Kit spoke, "We are optimistic about this tip."

Ahsoka felt a little more at ease but not enough to make her feel at all comfortable. A random tip is sent in – an anonymous one at that. That was strange anyway.

Ahsoka frowned when Kit Fisto's and Shaak Ti's holographic images started to flicker constantly, at least once or twice per second. Anakin noticed a few seconds after as well.

"What's going on?" Anakin questioned as the other council members noticed too.

Ahsoka's stomach dropped when she saw the flicker of a hologram appear in the middle of room, the exact same as the last time. She should've guessed as soon as she saw the mysterious flickering – not that she could've stopped it anyway.

Anakin stepped away from the hologram that now flashed in the middle of the council chambers.

Ahsoka didn't think her stomach could drop any further but apparently she was wrong. When the same mysterious criminal appeared in front of her for the second time this week she was actually surprised her stomach hadn't left her body.

All eyes were on the holographic man in the same creepy mask in the middle of the room. Ahsoka swallowed hard as he started to speak.

"You Jedi aren't very good at following orders, are you?" He asked rhetorically, shaking his head. "I did tell not to come looking for us again. If you had listened, we could've avoided this little meeting." He sighed mockingly, making out he actually cared, "No matter. It is you that has to pay the consequences now anyway."

Ahsoka could feel the tension in the room, similarly to the last time this maniac had paid them a visit. Consequences? What did he mean? Now she was anxious.

The man chuckled, "Nothing to say, huh?"

Ahsoka gasped – this was a live feed. It wasn't a pre-recorded hologram; he was speaking directly to everyone in the room.

Mace stood from his chair and started to speak but the man silenced him, putting his fingers to where his mouth would be under the mask, making a soft 'shush' noise. "I'm speaking, not you."

Mace slowly sat back in his chair, not taking his narrowed eyes off the hologram. His facial expression mirrored everyone else's in the room. Narrowed eyes with creased brows, all focussed directly on the flickering blue hue in the centre of the room.

The man chuckled, "Good boy." He mocked, "Now, I'm guessing you're wondering why I've contacted you again. I told you not to send out any more researchers. You still decided to do so. Which, honestly, isn't my problem." He shrugged as if it meant nothing to him, "You won't find us anyway. Fortunately for us, we found you."

Ahsoka took a shaky as she heard Anakin mumble something under his breath. She could almost sense the smirk on the monsters face, hidden under the dark, sinister mask.

Before anyone had the chance to speak, the image shown on the hologram moved, as if the masked man had picked up the machine that produces the holographic image.

Gasps echoed throughout the council room as six mutilated bodies were shown on the flickering blue holo-image. They were burnt, most of the hair on their heads missing and their facial features were almost gone. Ahsoka noticed one man missing all of his fingers on one hand and a woman with her leg bent at a sickening angle – the bone had pierced through the skin where it had snapped in two. Through all the blood that seemed to be splattered across the six people, Ahsoka recognised them to members of the research teams. This must be the team that was dispatched after Anakin and Ahsoka left Coruscant.

Ahsoka swallowed before speaking, trying to stop her voice from stammering, "That's a research team."

She understood why Anakin had been affected so much by the images he had seen previously. She felt sick, like she throw up this second.

The view on the hologram changed again and the Jedi were met with the masked face once again. "Well done, missy." He said, referring to Ahsoka. "I told you all that you would regret it if you sent out more. You didn't listen, so I took matters into my own hands. These six people died because of your actions. They had relatively quick deaths – they were strong in mind but not in body. Keep that in mind before you send out another team. The next lot will end up worse than these." He said before the image flickered away within a second.

Silence filled the room for a few moments.

Shaak Ti sighed. Ahsoka gazed at her as she spoke, "It's obvious that they are on our trail and they'll expect anything from us. We have no tricks up our sleeves. We need a plan of action if we're going to stop this organisation."

Plo Koon spoke up, "There isn't much we can do at this moment in time. We need time to think up an effective strategy. We cannot just leap back into this mess again or we may face even worse consequences." He looked around the council members and they all nodded in agreement.

Yoda tapped his walking stick on the floor gently, "Agree with Master Koon, I do. Time, we need. However, time, we do not have. Very unfortunate, this is. Very sorry I am, for the loss of their lives. Contact the families, we must." He closed his large eyes momentarily, a small moment of silent respect.

Anakin stepped forward a little, "Master's is there no way we can trace where this hologram came from? Maybe we can pick up signal and trace it back to the location? Or maybe even the planet?" He questioned.

Master Mundi spoke again, "We tried that the first time, Skywalker. They have managed to get a signal and hack into our holographic files. Strangely, they haven't stolen any information from the Jedi. All they have done is broken into our system through networks so they can send us these messages without being on a device we could possible trace."

Ahsoka looked at her master as he spoke, "We should still try to trace this new one too. This one may be easier because it was a live feed and not a pre-recorded hologram. They would need a stronger signal for that – it's worth a try." Anakin said, determined. Ahsoka could tell he wanted to take these monsters down as much as she did.

The Togruta felt dizzy after seeing those sickening images. She had no idea how someone could have it in them to do that sort of thing to someone else. To torture someone, mutilate them; listen to their screams and pleas for help.

How could someone do it? It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about. She felt the same about slavery – anything that involved inequality, in fact. How could someone think they are above someone for their race? How could someone order someone else around and not feel guilty about it?

Mace nodded in reply to Anakin's point, "I'll get one of our top electronics expects on it straight away. We have to be careful now. This short amount of time we have is crucial."

Ahsoka frowned, which fortunately went unnoticed by everyone. If Master Windu hadn't been so adamant about sending out more teams despite the threats – yes, the _threats_ – those six innocent people would still be alive. They wouldn't have had to go through that unbearable torture. The Jedi wouldn't have to inform their poor families. She wasn't going to deny it – she did blame Master Windu. There was no planning put into the strategy and now they were paying the price for it. She wished she had spoken up before he made the overall decision.

"Go now, Skywalker and Padawan Tano. Rest, you must. Keep you both informed, we shall. Dismissed."

The master and Padawan bowed in unison and walked out of the council room.

Anakin noticed how quiet Ahsoka was being and he immediately knew what was wrong with her. He had felt the same after seeing horrific images similar to those that they had just been shown.

"Ahsoka," He said softly, "I wish you hadn't of seen that. It obviously couldn't be helped but…" He sighed, "I know that you're strong and you can handle it, okay? These are dark times and we have to be strong. I know it's hard."

"I know, Master. I really appreciate you being supportive. You weren't wrong when you said they were awful… I just can't get that image out of my head. You could barely recognise them! There was so much blood and it looked like acid had been poured over them…" Ahsoka spoke quietly, her eyes downcast. "And I'm sure you're worried sick about Padmé, as she might be a target."

Anakin stammered a little, which didn't go unnoticed by the Padawan. She chose to ignore it, however. She knew Anakin had his secrets and she respected it, in a way. It was a little irritating of course, as it made her feel like he didn't trust her all that much. She knew he was secretive and extremely stubborn so no matter what, he wouldn't tell her. Anakin swallowed visibly and said, "What do you mean?"

Ahsoka would've rolled her eyes if she didn't feel disheartened. "Well I know you and Padmé have been friends for a long time. I'm sure you'd be upset if something were to happen to her." Ahsoka said in an almost questionable way, a little confused as to why Anakin was even asking her such an irrelevant question. If someone you knew went missing you'd be worried and upset anyway.

"Oh, yeah, of course." He said quickly.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly as they carried on the walk back to their quarters. No doubt they'd be back in that blasted council room again within the next standard week.

Why did things have to get so complicated?

… **..**

 **I know, I know. Another boring chapter. But like I said, it's sort of setting the scene and some action and other stuff will be happening very soon, so bear with me. Also so far a lot of the story has taken place in the council room so it's probably getting a bit repetitive. The council probably won't be in the next chapter anyway.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please favourite, follow and review! It all keeps me motivated to write for you guys!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It'd been five days and the master and the apprentice still had heard nothing from the council. Anakin wasn't surprised – he knew thinking of an effective plan could take a while.

Anakin had noticed that Ahsoka had calmed down a little and was acting more herself. She had always been a breath of fresh air so it was strange and even slightly upsetting to see her down or stressed. When Ahsoka wasn't feeling herself, it seemed to affect everyone else too. She was always chatting, telling jokes and keeping bright smiles on everyone's faces.

It took a lot to get Ahsoka all worked up like that. She'd seen a lot in her two years on the battlefield and if it affected her, she tended to not show it. Anakin had never seen her quite as traumatised as she was after seeing those mutilated bodies.

He'd thought about it a lot, and as much as he loved Ahsoka as a sister, it was wrong for her to be serving on the front lines, risking her life day after day. She was a teenager and she'd experienced things not even grown men could handle. She was a tough kid and he admired her for that and always would. She had a burning determination to help others and protect them from any harm. She didn't deserve the pain that came with fighting a war.

War affected people differently. Some had crippling nightmares that plagued them every time they slept, some became extremely sensitive and paranoid with loud noises, and some became distant. He knew the clones had been trained for war all of their lives but that didn't mean they weren't allowed to feel the effects of it or grieve for their fallen brothers. He hated the way some Jedi or even outsiders treated the clones, as if they were emotionless cyborgs.

The way people expect the clones to be was in a way, similar to the Jedi. They were supposed to release emotions into the force. Anakin hated that. Just because the Jedi are gifted, it didn't mean they weren't allowed to feel anything. He understood that it could be dangerous – raw emotions meant temptation to fall towards the darkside.

The war put a lot of pressure on the Jedi, that was obvious.

No one seemed to crack under the overwhelming weight, however. Maybe it was because they couldn't allow it. With so much going on, so many battles to fight, a Jedi could not afford to breakdown no matter what they had done or seen out on the field. Maybe that's what kept them all going.

Anakin knew Ahsoka hated killing. She was a sixteen year old girl after all. People had died by her blade and her actions and that was something he knew she couldn't just let go of. She couldn't just brush it off her shoulder and put it behind her. Anakin knew that Ahsoka despised killing, even if she had to.

She'd killed evil people before, people who didn't deserve to live. Just knowing that she had taken someone's life didn't sit with her right.

Anakin respected how strong she was for always keeping it together. She was able to fight battle after battle despite the things she had witnessed. He was proud of how far she had come.

His comm beeped, distracting him from his deep thinking. He sighed and expected it to be the council calling him in to discuss a new strategy but he was pleasantly surprised to hear Padmé's soothing voice, "Are you free today, Master Skywalker?"

Anakin quickly scanned his eyes over his surroundings, searching for anyone who could possibly listen in onto his conversation, "Yes, I am. When do you want me?" He smiled as he spoke, happy to hear his wife's voice.

"As soon as possible. Dinner is being prepared and it'll be ready soon. You can bring Ahsoka too if you want, there's plenty for everyone."

As much as Anakin wanted some alone time with his wife, he knew Ahsoka needed a break and it'd probably make her feel better spending time with close friends. "Okay, Padmé. I'll comm Ahsoka and we'll be down shortly. I miss you."

He heard his wife laugh quietly and a large smile grew on his face almost instantly. "I miss you too, Ani."

…

Anakin threw his knife and fork down onto his empty plate and leant back in his chair. He held his robotic hand to his stomach. He took a deep breath, "You weren't kidding when you said that there was plenty to go around." He said across the table to Padmé.

She wiped her mouth with a napkin and set it down on the table, "I don't think I'll be needing breakfast tomorrow. At least we know what's for dinner tomorrow." She laughed a little and gestured towards the serving plates in the middle of the table, still filled with food, enough to feed two to three people. "Next time I think we need to think a little more about portion sizes..."

Ahsoka mimicked Anakin's actions and lay back in her chair. "Definitely no breakfast for me either."

Padmé chuckled, looking at the two Jedi; both had hands on their stomachs and leant back, looking as if they'd fall asleep any second, "It's a hard life for you Jedi."

Anakin straightened his posture and leant forward, "Hey! Physical activity makes people hungry!"

Ahsoka laughed, "That's true. After training I feel like eating my weight in food but then what would be the point in training?"

"You have a point there, Ahsoka." Said Padmé as she stood up and started to clear away the plates.

Ahsoka was about to stand but Anakin put a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from standing. "Don't worry about it, Snips. You just relax here and I'll help the Senator out." He patted her shoulder then picked up her plate.

Ahsoka raised a brow as she watched him walk out of the room, following Padmé. She wasn't stupid. She knew that there was _something_ going on, but she didn't know what. She knew that the two of them were close but how close? That's what she didn't know.

As much as she wanted to know, she knew her master was secretive and in all fairness, it wasn't her business and she had no right to get involved. It didn't stop her from wondering, though. She had noticed that he always seemed happy around the Senator.

Ahsoka stood up and stretched, hearing a satisfying crack in her back. She was definitely tired and she had a feeling that the council would want to see them tomorrow about the new strategy. She wanted to head home. They had arrived separately because Anakin had been near the Senator's apartment anyway and so she drove her speeder down to meet him, to save him time, so he didn't need to pick her up.

"Master?" She called as she walked towards the kitchen area, "I'm gonna head back – I'm really tired. Thanks for having me, Padmé, the food was lovely."

Padmé called over her shoulder and flicked the water off of her hands, "It's no problem, Ahsoka. You know you're always welcome here. See you soon."

"See you later, Master. Bye, Padmé." She smiled and left them to it, guessing they wanted a bit of time to themselves anyway.

She threw her cloak over her body and dug into her pockets for her speeder keys. She always seemed to be losing the damn things. She entered the elevator and waited patiently; after all, she didn't intend to rush after all that food she had just eaten.

She sighed in relief when she found the keys. She didn't want a repeat of the last time she had lost them – Anakin hadn't been pleased at all.

When she reached her desired floor she stepped out of the doors and stopped for a second to spot her speeder. She had been in such a rush to get to Padmé's she didn't really take note of where she had parked up. She blamed the hunger for her actions.

 _Click click click._

Ahsoka snapped her head to the left – she could've sworn she heard footsteps coming from that direction.

After a few moments of silence, she started walking again. She was tired, maybe she was imagining it.

 _Click click click._

Her heart skipped a beat but she carried on walking, pretending that she hadn't heard anything. She reached out to the force and mentally scanned the room – there seemed to be no one there.

She scanned the room once more for her speeder and spotted it in a far corner. She started walking and quickly realised that there was indeed a second set of footsteps, hitting the ground in time with her own. She abruptly stopped and listened carefully. If she could hear footsteps why could she not sense anyone?

She started again and stopped after a few steps. She could sense a presence – not with the force, but with that awful feeling you get when you know you're being watched.

She was getting pissed now. She gripped her lightsaber with her right hand and prepared herself for anything that may happen. The feeling of paranoia soon got the best of her and she ignited her lightsaber, pivoting on her heel and holding the weapon in a defensive position.

The glow of the lightsaber gave off a creepy hue, illuminating the parking bay in an ominous way that made Ahsoka's skin crawl. She gripped the weapon hard in her hands, concentrating hard on her surroundings.

She couldn't sense it, but she knew she wasn't alone. "I'm warning you. Show yourself or else." She snarled, determined to find out who this stalker person was.

She was met with silence and she was unsure if she should lower her guard or not. Maybe the person had seen her weapon and realised that they were messing with a Jedi and legged it.

She mentally searched the room again with the force and once more with her eyes. But she just couldn't shake that feeling of being watched. Flicking off her lightsaber, her heart dropped to her stomach when she heard a sickening laugh echo throughout the deserted parking lot.

She instinctively reached for her lightsabers and was knocked to the floor by a strong blow to the back of her head. Her vision went blurry as she crashed to the hard ground. She tried to push herself up but a heavy foot on her back forced her back down to the floor.

She wasn't going down without a fight.

She thrashed her body around when she felt a weight on top of her, forcing her flat to the floor. She was strong but whoever he attacker was, he was a large man. She couldn't push his weight off of her.

Just as she thrust out her hand for a force push, she felt a sharp prick in her neck and her already blurry vision was clouded with black dots and she felt as if she could throw up.

She quickly blacked out; the last thing she heard was that sickening laugh.

She knew she was in trouble.

…

Ouch.

When Ahsoka's eyes fluttered open, she was unable to take in her surroundings for a moment – all she could feel was a painful throbbing in her lekku. She'd been hit hard, she knew at least much.

Scrunching her eyes shut for a few seconds in hopes to take away the blurry vision, she opened them and was shocked by her surroundings. She had expected herself to be in some sort of dingy, damp cell. She was, however, in a small room with a mattress, a window caged with metal bars and a small chest of drawers. It was somewhat similar to her living quarters in the Jedi temple. There were only a few similarities but it still reminded her of it.

She felt at her waist and was unsurprised when she felt that her lightsabers were missing. She'd been in this situation a couple of times before, she had a feeling she'd be weapon-less.

She sat up slowly on the mattress and gently bounced on it – it wasn't the best quality but it was clean. She stood slowly and examined her surroundings in more detail. She gripped the cold metal bars that cased the window and tried her best to see what was outside. All she could see was a large steel wall and roughly ten people dressed in either grey or orange on the ground down below. Judging of the size of the people below, she must be about six or seven stories high off of the ground. She could definitely make the jump with the aid of the force.

The Togruta stood on her toes in hopes to see over the giant wall that cased them all in. She couldn't really make out what she could see beyond the walls. It could be fields, more buildings… She had no idea.

She narrowed her eyes at the people below – the colours represented that of prisoners. She assumed she was in some sort of prison; but for what?

She was beyond confused. She'd been kidnapped and had been thrown into a plain bedroom? The very thought of being locked in a bedroom and being a teenage girl was _very_ disturbing, but from her observations she saw that there no restraints or chains. That put her mind at ease a little.

She moved onto the mattress next. She lifted up one the ends and gazed beneath it. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for but anything she found could helpful information. Ahsoka stepped into the small gap between the mattress and the wall and began to gently knock on the wall. She was careful to keep the noise down in case she alerted any nearby guards that could possibly be patrolling.

Unsatisfied, she finally kneeled in front of the chest of drawers. She wasn't exactly feeling optimistic about finding anything now. She pulled open the tiny draws, one by one. They were all empty.

Huffing in frustration, she yanked all of the draws out completely and examined the casing for the drawers. There was nothing hidden inside of that either.

Ahsoka stopped dead when she saw the slightest movement out of the corner of her eye. She slowly turned her head and her stomach dropped when she noticed a tiny security camera in the top right hand corner of the room.

 _How did I miss that?_ She mentally scolded herself. She wanted to blame the head injury but she still should've seen it.

She stood slowly and stepped towards the camera in tiny movements. She stopped and looked directly to the lens. Was someone watching her right now, this second?

The thought of being watched, being monitored 24/7 unsettled her stomach. She felt like an animal, all caged up and spied on. What was she even doing here? If this really was a prison, why had they taken her here? She hadn't done anything, and if she had, she surely would've had a trial?

She suddenly heard a rattle outside of the door and she backed towards the end of the room, fists raised, ready to fight, defend, whatever she might have to do.

The door swung open. Ahsoka had to stop herself from flinching. That sinister man in the mask, the one who threatened the Jedi and killed the research team stood before her, wearing the same ominous, mysterious mask. She clenched her fists tighter and steadied her fighting stance, making sure her legs were sturdy. She swallowed hard and hid her anxiety with a clenched jaw and a determined face.

The man stepped forward into the room; his arms spread wide, "Ahsoka Tano!" He bellowed, "It's wonderful to finally meet you in person. You may call me the Governor. I am in charge of you here." He sounded so optimistic and it gave Ahsoka the creeps.

She held her stance even though her fists were starting to ache. She had been kidnapped by the Strangers. She _had_ to escape.

Blinking hard, she tried not to think about what would happen to her if she was unsuccessful in an escape. She knew if she let her guard down even a fraction, she wouldn't leave this place in one piece.

It was now or never, she supposed.

She leaped towards him, aiming to land a strong punch to his face. Her reflexes were fast, but his were even faster. The wind was knocked out of the girl by a strong, swift kick her stomach. As she tried to take a breath he landed a solid punch to her left cheek, knocking her onto her backside. She was ready to get back up to continue the fight but the Governor held up his palm, signalling her to stop.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. There are four armed guards stood outside this room – you wouldn't stand a chance against all five of us." He chuckled before continuing, "However, you are feisty."

Ahsoka glared at him and leant forward, spitting a glob of blood onto his boots. She the remaining blood off of her mouth with the back of her hand, eyes still locked onto the man stood above her.

Ahsoka expected anything from a punch or a kick to the face but she was shocked to hear another laugh leave his lips. Anakin was right when he had said that these guys were lunatics.

He knelt down and took Ahsoka's chin in his hand, "You're _extremely_ feisty."

Ahsoka tore her head away from him, flinching as her cheek started to throb even more painfully.

She heard the door scrape against the floor as it moved and was relieved that he was leaving.

He stopped suddenly, "Oh, I forgot to tell you." He said over his shoulder, "I have a wonderful feeling that my clients will bid _very_ high for you."

…

 **Okay so a little more excitement in this chapter… You also find out some more about the Strangers' organisation. I purposely didn't tell you what they do exactly. Feel free to guess what The Governor has planned for Ahsoka in the reviews or PM's! You'll find out soon what the bidding means, but guess if you want!**

 **Thanks for reading, please review! As always they keep me motivated!**


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Star Wars!

...

She'd spent approximately half a standard day in the isolated room. The anxiety and fear she felt hadn't died down whatsoever. She felt the crippling terror rushing through her body, the deep, trembling worry. She'd tried to contact Anakin through the Force - for some reason she couldn't reach him, or anyone, through a Force bond. She'd tried to bend the bars with the Force, attempted to break the windows too. Nothing had worked. The Padawan didn't know whether it was possible to cut off the Force connection somehow, but she assumed it was. Anakin and she shared a very strong bond, there was no way she'd just not be able to contact him - something was definitely cutting her connection to the Force. She felt stripped without the Force to guide her.

In the hours she had been sat in the room, she'd inspected it over and over again. She was mindful to keep an eye on the lightly flashing camera in the corner of the room, too.

What the hell was she being sold for? A million thoughts washed through her head. There were so many awful and disgusting possibilities and it made her sick to her stomach. She was being thrown into the unknown and it was terrifying. She'd never felt fear as strong as this before; it was overwhelming.

Her jumped every time someone walked past the door, every time even a small noise echoed down the halls outside the room.

She was terrified. Any minute now she could be dragged down to a torture chamber and strapped to a chair for them to do whatever they wanted to her. Images of the poor search team flickered in her raging mind and felt her stomach churn even more. Her heartbeat was erratic.

Would she die here? Could she withstand the torture before Anakin found her and rescued her from these scum?

Ahsoka's eyes widened. Did Anakin even know she was missing? Had he noticed yet?

The Togruta had no way of telling the time in her cell, but she guessed Anakin must've left Padmé's apartment by now. If so he surely would've seen that her speeder was still parked up.

Ahsoka chewed on her lip as she thought. She had parked her speeder in a corner... There was a strong chance that Anakin wouldn't have even noticed that her speeder was still there.

She was screwed. She knew that much and it left an awful, sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Suddenly the sound of metal hitting metal clanged throughout the room and Ahsoka almost jumped out of her skin. She quickly backed away into a corner and clenched her fists, ready to know the living daylight out of someone.

Two men with black fabric covering all of their facial features apart from their eyes entered the room, standing in the way of the door, preventing any kind of escape attempts.

Perhaps conforming to their orders would be the best thing to do, Ahsoka mused.

She didn't know much about The Strangers yet so perhaps it would be safer to just do what they say while she tried to gather up some information.

"You're coming with us, Togruta. The Governor would like to see you." One of them spoke gruffly, pulling out a pair of handcuffs with light bloodstains on them, most likely from people struggling in them and causing friction between the skin and metal.

Despite the fear the teenager felt, she couldn't resist a snarky comment. "Is the Governor too lazy to get up off his ass to see me himself?"

The two large men ignored her and advanced towards her. Ahsoka simply held out her arms and winced slightly when the men slammed the cuffs on, forcing her arms behind her back, nipping the skin on her wrists. They were certainly tighter than they had looked.

As they walked out of the room, the Padawan sandwiched between the two burly men, Ahsoka made an effort to remember everything about her new surroundings. She was searching for any potential exits, anything she could possibly use as a weapon.

Ahsoka was confused by her surroundings - it seemed like this prison (or whatever it actually is) was fairly behind when it came to modern technology. Perhaps it was because it was a prison, but then again, modern prisons and buildings had electronic doors and key cards or fingerprint readers. Here, the doors had to be opens manually with keys, which was extremely uncommon these days.

She wanted to conform to these people. If she did, maybe they'd form some sort of trust in her. Similarly to how merchants trust regular customers, they know that they follow the rules and conform. Ahsoka hoped her method would work. She could hopefully catch them off guard and leg it out of there.

After a few twists and turns, a few flights of stairs, they arrived outside of a door. The men opened the door, quickly yanked off her handcuffs and pushed the girl in, causing her to stumble slightly.

She looked up to see a plain room with nothing but a chair in it. The Governor sat in the seat and seemed to have been waiting quite patiently for her. There was a small pile of folded clothes stacked neatly next to his feet.

She waited for the masked man to speak.

He stood slowly, "It's time for your inspection, Padawan Tano." He looked her up and down, taking note of her slightly dirty outfit, "And a change of clothes, too. Luckily we have some new ones for you here." He nodded his head to the stack below him.

Ahsoka raised a brow, making sure to keep her distance from him, "Thanks, I guess?"

He chuckled before replying, "I'll need you to take your clothes off."

Ahsoka blinked, unable to think of any words to reply to such a digesting request. She felt fear course through her, the blood running through her veins turning cold.

He shook his head in an amused way. Since Ahsoka could see his face she had to read his emotions through body language. "Just the top layers, Jedi. I have no interest in what you have hidden elsewhere."

Ahsoka just stood still, nervous to be undressing in front of someone. It was something she had never done before, so it was new to her. It was especially nerve wracking because of who she was undressing in front of.

The man in front of her signed irritably and spoke through gritted teeth, "I will turn away if you wish but either way I see you in just undergarments so it'd be rather pointless." He glanced at the girl's face and then swivelled around, clearly annoyed.

Ahsoka reluctantly pulled off her boots. She placed them down on the right side of her then slowly began to pull down her tights, as the lump in her throats seemed to get bigger, making her feel that little bit more uncomfortable. She felt more than uncomfortable, in fact; she was mortified.

She stood next to the clumpy pile that were her clothes, covering her chest that was over covered by a bra. She felt extremely exposed and she hated it. Stood in front of an unknown man, the leader of a goddamn torture organisation - she felt like an animal in a cage, only there for the spectators enjoyment.

The Governor turned back to the Togruta. "There is no need to be anxious. All I'm doing is a quick inspection and asking a few questions. As long as you comply with orders and follow the rules, you'll be fine."

Ahsoka was sceptic, for obvious reasons. He seemed a lot more calm and collected than how Anakin had once described him. Perhaps he had multiple personalities or had a mental illness.

Ahsoka hesitantly moved her arms down to her sides. She hated feeling this open, this exposed. She was a Jedi, a peacekeeper, a warrior - not some possession or a caged animal.

The masked man circled around her a few times, obviously inspecting her. She hated the way his eyes scanned over her; however, they did not linger in any unwanted places, which was a relief. He must've meant it when he said he want interested.

Ahsoka was frozen with fear, she could barely hear his voice as he spoke, "You fight hard in the war. I can see that. You have a lot of scars and past wounds from the battlefield." He said quizzically, seemingly sounding very interested.

Ahsoka gulped before replying, remembering her plan to conform and gain trust, or at least a good reputation, "in the Commander of the 501st Battalion. I've done a lot, seen a lot... As you can imagine."

"You're extremely physically fit. You're all muscle. How long have you been part of the Jedi Order and when did you start your official physical training?" We waved his hands around as he spoke, giving Ahsoka the impression that he was indeed interested.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at him, confused by his random and irrelevant questions. "I was brought to the Temple when I was three... And I was around six when the training started. I'm not sure, I don't really remember." She said, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

Ahsoka assessed him and it was as if he was writing notes in his mind, carefully analysing each word she said.

He hummed as if deep in thought, "Tell me about this." He gently grazed his fingertip over the circular shaped scar on her shoulder. She shivered uncomfortably and twitched, as if his touch were burning her. She felt shivers all over her body, and she knew it wasn't because she exposed because of the lack of clothes.

Flashbacks overcame her. "It was during the battle of Onderon. I was trying to save a Rebel leader from falling to her death. A fallen gunship shot me with it's main cannon." She kept a hard and expressionless face as she spoke, not wanting to seem affected by the painful memories.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad was the pain when you were shot?"

Ahsoka raised her brow as he continued to circle her, picking out more of her battle wounds. "About an eight I guess? I don't know, it was so sudden - it was during a tense battle so I had plenty of adrenaline rushing through me."

Ahsoka was very unsure about this man. He was strange and seemed to be interested in even stranger things.

He tapped a light patch of skin just above Ahsoka's elbow, on the back of her arm, "And this? It seems to be a peculiar wound."

Ahsoka sensed a pattern coming along - he wanted to know the stories and levels of pain with every wound she had ever suffered. This man was definitely strange - and not in a good way. It only made her more uneasy.

She tried to keep the story short, as she was beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable around him, "After the second battle of Genosis. The crew on board our ship became infected with brainwashing worms and the only way to kill them was with the cold. The ship got so cold that everything was covered with ice. I passed out against a wall after killing the parasites and my skin got stuck to the dry ice. The skin was torn off when I was moved by the clones when the show had docked."

"So you passed out because of the cold?" He asked.

"Yes." It'd been so cold she hasn't been able to function properly - her fighting skills had been sloppy and uncoordinated, she could barely breathe. She never wanted to feel cold like that again.

Despite not being able to see the Governor's face, she could tell he was fascinated. The way he tilted her head ever so slightly and the way he seemed to focus on her face as she spoke indicated this. It was creepy - very creepy.

His questions continued and the more he asked, the more fear she felt. He seemed obsessed with the idea of pain and hurting. It was disturbing.

After he'd finished the inspection, he handed her the new clothes. Ahsoka pulled them on quickly before even looking at them. She just wanted to cover up and get out of that room, as far away from that man as she could possibly get.

He clapped his hands and the same two guards from before entered the room. The Governor looked directly at her before the guards snapped the cuffs on her again, "You've been through a lot, Ahsoka Tano. You'll last long here. Perhaps you'll be the longest out of everyone we've had here."

She felt her heartbeat increase tenfold. "What?"

She was dragged out of the room by the men and the door slammed shut, silencing her. She had been panicking so much that she hadn't taken in her surroundings like she had intended to do. Before she knew it she was roughly thrown back into her cell again, where she landed heavily on her back.

The cuffs had been taken off her now-red wrists. The worry she felt right now was almost overwhelming. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the darkness through the window - she knew she should try and get some sleep but her body and mind were too awake to even think about sleep.

She had no doubt about what was going to happen to her. She'd end up like the research team - tortured to death, mutilated so much that she would be unrecognisable by the end of it all.

Would they come for her in the night while she was sleeping? Drag her through he halls by her wrists and throw her into a blood stained room?

She felt so paranoid she couldn't even keep her eyes closed for over two minutes. Every tiny noise she heard, her heart pounded impossibly harder. She could feel tiredness creeping up on her body but she just couldn't fall asleep. She was too scared for her life, for what was going to happen to her.

She knew that she shouldn't be feeling these emotions but she didn't care; she knew she was stuck in a hole that she couldn't climb out of and she knew bad things were going to happen to her. She wanted to just accept it but she couldn't - she was petrified.

She craved Anakin and Obi-Wan's presence - they always seemed to calm her down or make her feel more comfortable when she needed it. She knew that they probably didn't even know that she was missing but it didn't stop her wanting thief comfort. She needed someone to pull the fear out of her body and banish it. She longed to feel safe and warm.

Would she ever feel safe again?

...

Anakin hopped out of his speeded and made his way into the Jedi Temple. He was in a good mood and it was radiating off him. He'd had an excellent night at Padmé's and he loved nothing more than spending time with his wife. He knew Ahsoka would be shocked to see him in such a great mood so he tried to calm himself a little as he walked though the sacred halls.

When he arrived at their shared quarters, he was surprised to find the whole place empty.

He checked her room to see if she was resting. Her room was empty, still messy and unorganised as usual. That girl didn't have a lot of things but Force, she still managed to make it look like a Rancor had crashed through.

He reached out with the Force, sensing for Ahsoka's bubbly aura.

He sensed nothing. Now he was starting to get a little worried. She said she was going home, hadn't she?

Frowning, he commed Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan, this is Anakin. Have you seen Ahsoka around? She's not in her quarters I can't sense her... at all, Master." He said, feeling the anxiety creeping up on him.

"No, I haven't Anakin." His voice crackled through the comlink.

"I have a bad feeling about this Obi-Wan. Can you meet with me in the next standard hour?" He responded, his anxiety only growing worse as he tried reaching Ahsoka again, only to receive no reply.

Anakin waited a short moment before his former Master replied, "I can meet you now, Anakin. You're in your quarters, I assume?"

"Yeah. See you soon." Anakin said quickly.

...

Obi-Wan arrived outside Anakin's quarters no less than five minutes later. He too, has tried to contact Ahsoka through the Force. He couldn't even feel a slight murmur of her Force signature. She was strong with the Force, especially for someone of her age - she was usually easy to pinpoint through her signature.

But he felt nothing at all. He was pretty certain she was off-world.

He walked in without knocking and found Anakin pacing in the small living area.

"Anakin, don't get so paranoid. Ahsoka is old enough to go off-world when she feels like it." He was anxious too but he wanted to calm Anakin - after all, this could all just be nothing. Ahsoka was reckless after all, she did tend to run off at times to go run some errands but never without letting one of them know.

"I'm not so sure, Obi-Wan." Anakin ran his hand through his hair as he spoke, "I feel a disturbance in the Force. It's warning me, I sense a strong feeling of danger. And it's near."

Obi-Wan understood, having felt a slight disturbance himself. "Before we jump to conclusions let's just take a look around. Ahsoka may have left some indication as to where she's gone. Let's take a look in her room." He suggested calmly, hoping that his calm aura would slow the younger Jedi's mind down.

They both entered Ahsoka's room and Obi-Wan didn't bother to comment on the state of if. He presumed Anakin's didn't look much different.

There wasn't exactly a lot to search through - as a Jedi, Ahsoka wasn't allowed many possessions.

There was no indication that Ahsoka had left them a note or anything. The bed appeared to have been slept in, due to its messiness. However, Obi-Wan didn't take Ahsoka as the type to make her bed up every day.

"There's nothing here," Anakin confirmed.

They started to leave, but Anakin suddenly stopped just as they were walking back into the living space. Obi-Wan had to stop abruptly too, so she didn't crash into the younger man's back.

"Wait a second..." He mumbled to himself, pushing past Obi-Wan without excusing himself.

Obi-Wan brushed off his former Padawan's rudeness and followed him, interest sparking up in him. "What's wrong, Anakin?"

Anakin stopped and brushed his hand over the small cabinet next to Ahsoka's bed. "Her speeder keys aren't here..."

Obi-Wan felt slightly confused. "Okay... but we already know she is off planet, don't we? The Force is telling us that much. We can't even feel a murmur of her in the Force."

"It's just strange. She left Padmé's pretty late last night and there's no way Ahsoka would get up this early and drive off somewhere. She doesn't usually wake up until around," he glanced at the small chrono on the wall, "now actually."

Obi-Wan raised a brow slightly. "I don't know what you're getting at, Anakin."

He thought for a moment, as if struggling to find the words that he wanted to say, "What if she never made it back?"

"This may be a difficult task, but let's retrace the steps. You last saw her at Senator Amidala's last night. So let's start there."

Anakin nodded in agreement.

...

So that's it for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed!

Just a quick note about the Governor - I understand he is acting different at times, either like a maniac or calm. I wanted to portray him as having multiple personalities, depending on how he's feeling. More will be revealed in coming chapters, obviously.

As mentioned in my previous one-shot "Old Friends or Enemies", I've been having computer problems. So I've had to write this story on my phone and do it all that way. So I apologise if there are any grammar mistakes, I find it a lot more difficult to write on a phone than a computor. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

Please review! It helps motivate me!


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars or any of the canon characters in this story!

...

Ahsoka was startled awake by a loud click and the sound of her cell door swinging open.

She was about to leap up, ready to fight, but a tray with a bowl and a cup balanced on top was placed on the floor and the door was closed again.

The Togruta slowly walked over to the tray placed in front of the door. Stood over it, she grimaced a little - there was an almost full cup of water, a tiny loaf of stale looking bread and a bowl with some kind of soup in it. It looked thin, nasty and tasteless.

Ahsoka sighed and sat down cross legged in front of the tray. Glancing at the tiny camera in the corner, she picked up the plastic cup and sniffed the contents of it, checking for any strange smells which could indicate there were drugs in the liquid.

Coming to the conclusion it smelt and looked fine, Ahsoka took a sip and enjoyed the sensation of the cool liquid slipping down her dry throat.

Next she moved onto stale bread, which she tore in two and then dipped in her watery soup. Taking a bite, she resisted the urge to spit it out. It was even more tasteless than the rations she had when out on long missions - and she never even thought anything could be more tasteless than those boring sticks of nutrients.

She forced herself to finish the food, imagining that this would be her only meal for the rest of the day, so she may as well savor it.

After she was done with her 'meal', she placed the tray on top of the small chest of drawers.

Now what was she to do? Sit and wait around until some sleemo grabbed her and put a knife to her throat?

She couldn't shake the feeling of fear that loomed over her. She could feel it deep inside of her and she couldn't feel anything else.

If she could still feel the Force running through her, she knew it would be on high alert, jolting her with warning signs every minute.

She already felt paranoid enough. Every little sound and creak made her heart race and her head pound. Maybe it was her predator instincts kicking in a little, or maybe that's what she kept telling herself through all of the fear.

She jolted and sprang to her feet when there was a loud, vigorous knocking at the cell door.

"Miss Tano," The Governor's joyful voice sounded through the metal, making Ahsoka both roll her eyes and back up a little in fear, "you have your first client all booked in! You know what that means?"

More terror shot through the girl as she clenched her fists. So her torture, the beginning of her painful end, would start soon. She felt frozen with anguish and overwhelming fear.

She didn't know what was going to happen to her, but she knew she'd be going through a lot of pain and she may not even live to see tomorrow.

The Governor waited a few moments for an answer. Displeased with Ahsoka's silence, he rapped on the door again, this time louder and angrily. The noise rattled uncomfortably in Ahsoka's montrals. "I said, do you know what this means?!" He yelled angrily, still smashing his fist into the door.

Ahsoka gulped and blinked fast, not knowing what to say. "N-no, no I don't." She said, trying not to sound as small as she felt.

A menacing chuckle sounded from outside the door straight after the banging stopped. "No, I didn't think you did. You'll have to wait to find out."

Ahsoka dropped down onto the mattress and held her heads in shaky hands. What was she going to do? Could she find a way to escape?

Despair settled over her, along with a lonely cloud of helplessness. She felt so useless, so alone and afraid. She had a sinking feeling that she was never going to make it out of this building.

It felt like a tonne of dursteel had been dropped onto her when she realised she could die today, or tomorrow. Tortured to death by some sickos who felt no remorse for anyone.

It had always bugged Ahsoka that there were people out there like that. People who had no pity and felt no guilt or remorse, no mater what they did, and who they hurt. They were the worst types of people, in her mind.

Knowing that she was most likely going to die by the hands of one of these people both sickened her and scared her. Why couldn't she just die on the battlefield? At least she'd be doing something right, doing something to help those in need.

She didn't want to die - not here.

She never thought she was afraid of death; until now. Her death would be slow and painful - even without the Force, she could sense that. It was unavoidable and it seemed the Force had set her path now.

Suddenly she heard a slight knock on the wall to her right, where the set of drawers were.

She crept up from the dirty mattress on the floor and moved over to the wall. A small knock sounded again.

Curious, Ahsoka crouched down and looked to where the knocks were coming from. Hesitantly, she knocked on the wall once.

"Everything okay in there?" A muffled voice sounded through the wall.

Startled, Ahsoka quickly glanced around to see if anyone was actually in the room with her.

"Um, yeah, I guess so." She said quietly.

"That's alright then. My name is Kato. What's yours?"

Ahsoka could tell now that the voice came from a male. He didn't seem to have an accent, so she assumed he was a human.

"Ahsoka." She replied. She felt a little strange talking to someone through a wall.

She eyed the camera carefully. Was she even allowed to talk to other people here? She shuffled, facing away from the camera and leaning her head on the wall so she could hear Kato a little better.

"How long have you been here?" Ahsoka questioned.

"I don't know, maybe a little over a week. I don't understand what's happening. I've just been sat here for all this time." The boy sounded scared. Judging from his voice Ahsoka assumed he was probably around her age, maybe a little younger.

"What? You've been in that room the whole time?" Ahsoka said, shocked. "How come?"

"I don't know. I've just been in here, I haven't left, apart from going for bathroom trips. I don't know why I'm here or what's going to happen to me."

Ahsoka shuffled closer to the wall, "Don't worry. I'll tell you what I know. But, just prepare yourself. Please don't panic when I tell you." Ahsoka said calmly. She knew this could make him very uneasy and he could do something stupid.

"Tell me what?!" He said, clearly panicked.

"Kato, calm down." Ahsoka said, calmly. "I don't know a lot but listen closely. They're some kind of organisation. They capture people and torture them. The Jedi are trying their hardest to get rid of these people but they're very smart. But don't worry, they are coming. And they'll save us both." Ahsoka said, determined that Anakin was already on his way and searching for a way to find her.

There was a moment of silence and Ahsoka was holding her breath, preparing herself for the reaction. "Is all of this true?" She heard a small voice.

"Yes." She sighed. "I wish it wasn't. But that's what it is."

"Do you think we're going to die here?" Kato said sadly, as if he already knew.

"No. Someone will find us. We're not going to die here." She wanted to sound strong for Kato but inside, she felt the same fear he did. It was unlikely they'd survive. She'd seen what the strangers did to people.

"Ahsoka, I hope you're right."

"I am. We'll be alright, no matter what."

...

Ahsoka awoke to a sharp pain in her neck. She shot up, her defence mechanisms kicking in.

She was horrified to see a huge man dressed in a black coat standing above her. She thrust out her leg, kicking the man hard in the knee.

He howled in pain and grabbed onto her legs, forcefully yanking her off the mattress and onto the hard, cold floor.

Refusing to go down without a fight, Ahsoka grabbed his calf and pulled as hard and as fast as she could. He crashed down to the floor onto his back.

Ahsoka was on top of him in a flash, laying down harsh punches to his face. Suddenly, Ahsoka felt another sharp prick in her neck.

Flinching, she yanked out the object and hissed in pain. It was a now-empty syringe.

Immediately she started to feel strange, her head started swimming and the room began to spin madly.

Despite this, she continued her assault on the man but soon found herself on the floor, her head spinning. She felt incredibly sick and he stomach was doing somersaults. Soon everything went black.

...

Ahsoka's head rolled around her shoulders. She could hear the muffled voices of two men in a heated discussion.

"You idiot, why would you give her two shots of that stuff? She's been out cold for hours!"

"I didn't know she'd put up a fight?! Have you seen my face? These black eyes didn't come from walking into a door. I gave her the first shot and she sprung up and started battering me!" Another voice exclaimed defensively.

"Honestly, Jokah. You're six foot five. She's like half the size of you."

Their loud voices pounded around Ahsoka's head.

She groaned when she heard a loud bang.

"Gentlemen, please give us some time."

Ahsoka perked up when she heard the Governor's menacingly calm voice. She heard the men shuffle out of the room, then lifted her aching head to face in the man in front of her.

She realised that she was on a chair, strapped down by her arms and legs. She could already feel her wrists and ankles aching from the tightness of the rope. The room she was in was dimly lit, with a small light bulb hanging over her head and near the doorway. There were no windows and it was chillingly cold.

He bent down so he was eye level with Ahsoka. The Togruta stared right back at him, feeling her anger flare up. This is the pathetic excuse of a man who was going to take everything away from her.

"Are you ready for your first client, Ahsoka Tano?" He smirked down at her.

Ahsoka felt fear rush through but internally scolded herself - she was a Jedi. She wouldn't cower away from danger; she'd face it head on and come out of the other side alive - she hoped.

Ahsoka didn't reply, staring right back at the Governor's black mask.

Ahsoka could tell he was smirking down at her but she kept her brave face.

"See you later, Ahsoka Tano. Expect a visit from me in 2 days."

The door slammed behind him but Ahsoka's amplified hearing could pick up a second voice behind the door. The teenager couldn't make out what they were saying, but she could hear their muffled voices.

The door creaked open slowly, revealing a man Ahsoka hadn't seen before. He was a small build, with skinny arms and legs and an apron covering the front of his scrawny body. His face was sickly pale and he looked to be around the age of 30.

Behind him he dragged a large trolley with two platforms. The bottom was empty, but the top had something on the top that she couldn't make out.

She felt her heart rate increase. What he hell was going to happen to her in this room?

"Hi there." The man spoke, his voice croaky, as if he smoked a lot - talking of 40 a day. "My name is Zengok. What's yours?"

Ahsoka clenched her jaw and kept her mouth tightly shut. She wasn't going to tell this stranger who clearly had intentions to harm her anything.

He huffed, "That's fine. I know your name anyway, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka would've been shocked about him knowing her details but it didn't surprise her because of two reasons: one being that the Governor had probably told him and two being that she could be quite popular on the holonews at times, what with being the chosen one's padawan.

Ahsoka glared at him, trying to keep her breathing steady and not show any kind of emotion to this man.

He pulled up a chair and sat opposite her. "Do you know why you're here?" He asked, leaning forward intently.

Ahsoka, again, stayed silent.

He frowned at her, "Do you want to know what I'm going to do to you?"

Ahsoka's heart rate increased again but she tried her hardest not to show any kind of emotion, especially not fear.

She had read somewhere that fear of the unknown was one of the most common fears. Fear of not knowing what's ahead of you, what's around the corner.

He shrugged, "That's okay. You clearly don't want to talk, so I may as well get right to it then." He removed himself from the chair and went back to the trolley he'd dragged in.

He was facing away from Ahsoka so she couldn't see what he was fiddling with. She could hear little clinks and clanks, like metal hitting metal.

She squeezed her eyes together and swallowed hard, mentally preparing herself for whatever might happen. She knew she wasn't supposed to feel fear, as it leads to anger, but what else was she supposed to feel? The worst organisation in the universe had her in their clutches and she didn't even know why or what was going to happen to her.

When she opened her eyes, he was stood in front of her with a small metal pole, one end sharpened into a glinting point.

"Your master can't help you now." He said menacingly, pulling his arm back and thrusting it forward in a powerful punch.

When his clenched fist collided with Ahsoka's face, her head shot backwards. She could already see golden stars dancing across her vision from the pure force of the punch.

She could feel warm liquid running down her face and instantly knew her nose was bleeding.

Another punch came crashing into her face, knocking her jaw sideways. Ahsoka grunted in pain and spat out a mouthful of thick blood. Before she even had time to recover from the harsh blow, another came, this time the small metal pole clenched in his hand.

Ahsoka felt the sharpened tip slice deeply into her cheek, just under the left eye. She let out a small cry of pain.

Between the man's ruthless swings, Ahsoka could see a lot of anger on his face and she could tell how he was feeling by the way he was expressing his emotions.

It was obvious this guy was blowing off some steam, and he seemed to like doing it by beating the shit out of teenage girls.

More violent swings and punches collided with Ahsoka's face, each one causing her more pain than the last. He head was smashed from left to right with each punch.

Ahsoka was starting to get dizzy from the pain and the force of the blows.

For a moment the man stopped.

Ahsoka's head lolled around her shoulders, blood covering the whole of her face. It had dripped from her chin and onto her clothes, covering the majority of her chest and shoulders.

Her whole face felt swollen, hot and sticky.

"How are you feeling now?" The man asked, smirking to himself as he glanced over his work.

Ahsoka looked at him through swelled eyes, a look of disgust displayed on her battered features. She spat a mouthful of dark blood at him, managing to catch his shoe. "Feeling great." She said sarcastically. She regretted it as soon as she said it however, as the man's smirk converted to a scowl within a millisecond.

Ahsoka saw the glinting silver in his hand and closed her eyes, trying to brace herself for the pain that was surely coming.

She felt the blade slowly tear through the skin just under her collarbone. It felt as if someone was dragging a blistering hot needle through her skin - it was almost excruciating. Ahsoka started to feel sick from the pain and feared that she'd vomit.

The pain was so intense Ahsoka didn't even realise the man had removed the blade.

Blinking and breathing heavily, Ahsoka heaved as she saw the large quantity of blood spilling out of the gash on her chest.

Her entire face and chest were throbbing madly, increasing her body's need to empty the contents of her stomach.

Ahsoka watched as the man returned back to his trolley of tools.

She groaned in pain as the intensity of the throbbing in her chest increased.

The man returned and sat opposite her again.

"Sit up straight." He commanded.

By now Ahsoka was delirious and was somewhat struggling to keep her head up and straight. The blood loss from her chest and the repeated blows to her head had made her extremely dizzy and blurry eyed.

The man growled at her before backhanding her across her sliced cheek, sending her head flying to the side. "I said sit up, and keep your head up straight." He yelled in her face.

Ahsoka took a breath through her mouth. He nose was blocked with blood, denying her any air through it.

Zengok forcefully grabbed Ahsoka's chin and yanked her mouth open. His grip was tight and uncomfortable on her face.

"You know, I always wanted to be a dentist when I was a child. Unfortunately, I never paid attention in school so I never got the qualifications..." He said, his voice low as he examined Ahsoka's teeth.

Ahsoka's heart rate increased tenfold when she heard Zengok fumbling around on the trolley with his spare hand. She spotted a pair of rusty pliers in his hand.

Her eyes widened, "No, no don't." She tried to say, but struggled as her mouth was still forced open.

He laughed at her as he positioned the pliers in her mouth, the rusted metal surrounding the first molar tooth after the canine.

Ahsoka closed her eyes and gripped the arms of the chair as tight as she possibly could. Her legs trembled from fear.

The metal tightened around the tooth. Zengok quickly twisted his arm and pulled, ripping the tooth out of it's secured place in Ahsoka's mouth.

Ahsoka's scream of pain was muffled by his hand in her mouth. Her mouth filled with warm blood that slipped down her throat with every ragged breath she took. She ripped her head away from his grasp, leaning over to the side, trying to cough out all of the blood she had swallowed. Struggling to breath, she coughed as hard as she could to clear her throat, blood splatting all over herself and the floor.

Through her blurry eyes, she spotted the bloodied tooth on the floor. She felt more bile rise up her throat.

Her breathing deep, Ahsoka tried to speak, "Why are you doing this?"

Zengok chuckled and wiped the bloody pliers on his apron. He lent in close to Ahsoka's face, forcing her jaw open again, placing the pliers around Ahsoka's bottom left canine tooth. "Because I want to." He wriggled his hand, twisted the pliers and yanked.

...

Ohhhh shit guys! So, why is Ahsoka being tortured, hm? Let me know your guesses in your reviews! Thanks a bunch guys, and sorry this chapter took so long. Had major writers block (as usual, I mean i did disappear for like 2 years or something). I promise I'll be quicker this time!

Also... As you all know my laptop is broken. So I'm writing on my phone, no idea how to use bold or italics or anything cause it's just on my notes. Just to let you all know!


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters!**

 **WARNING: Graphic Torture and blood included in this chapter (and probably every chapter after this one.)**

 **...**

Another tooth clattered onto the blood soaked floor. Ahsoka groaned in pain, unable to scream because of the blood that gargled around in her throat every time she used her voice.

Ahsoka took a fast, shaky breath, "Please... please stop." She said, her voice weak, blood dripping down from her mouth and onto her chin and clothes.

She knew she'd lost a lot of blood but her mind was too hazy to register anything but the pain that raced through her.

The man laughed crazily at her, moving his face so it was close to hers. "Stop? But this is way too much fun."

He set the bloodied pliers down on the blue trolley.

Ahsoka, though delirious and half conscious, straightened her neck so she could sit up straight.

Everywhere ached and she wanted nothing more than to be in her bed at her home, at the Temple, surrounded by all of her loved ones.

Zengok turned to face her again, an old wooden handled hammer clutched in his left hand.

Ahsoka did her best to protest. She could barely speak, shuffling as much as she could in her chair to get away from him.

The insane horror and fear she felt was overwhelming.

He tapped Ahsoka's knee cap with circular, flattened end of the rustic hammer. "You're never getting out of this place, you know? It doesn't matter what we do to you, you're never escaping this place." He sneered, so close to Ahsoka's face that she could feel his breath on her face.

The man raised his arm, the hammer clutched tightly in his hand.

Ahsoka squeezed her eyes shut so tight she felt they might pop out.

When the hammer collided with her knee, Ahsoka felt the agonising shatter of her knee cap. She screamed in absolute agony, hunching over as much as she could. Her whole body moved and spasmed uncontrollably as her body tried to cope with the damage.

Ahsoka felt unbelievably sick from the torture her body had been put through. She'd never felt anything so sickeningly painful.

Ahsoka took once glance at her shattered knee and heaved, moving her head and leaning over the side of the chair so she could empty her stomach. She was struggling to stay conscious and knew she'd pass out soon.

Another wave of nausea hit her when the hammer crashed into her other knee. She screamed loudly and tears rapidly formed in her eyes. She emptied her stomach again, the pain too unbearable to do anything but throw up, scream and cry. Nothing could compare to the pure agony rushing through her.

A loud bang on the door didn't startle her, as she was too out of it to register anything but the agony in her legs. Zengok raised to his feet, setting down the hammer on the trolley. He swung open the heavy metal door. "What?" He snapped.

"Times up, Zengok." The man on the opposite side said bluntly, his voice completely monotone and lacking any kind of emotion.

He glanced over Zengok's shoulder to look at Ahsoka's bloodied, trembling body.

His facial expression not changing even the slightest at the sight of the girl, he locked his eyes back on Zengok. "Pack your things up and go."

Zengok sighed, "Fine. No need to be so pushy. There are such things as please and thank you, you know?"

The man just stared at him.

The man gripped Ahsoka's chin and bought her face up to meet his, "It's been a pleasure, Miss Tano." He smirked at her menacingly.

His awful smirk was the last thing Ahsoka saw before she blacked out.

...

Anakin walked beside his former Master as they parked up outside of Padmé's apartment. He didn't bother going to the inside parking area as it was usually quite difficult to find a vacant spot.

The pair made their way up to Senator Amidala's apartment. Anakin knocked loudly on the door so either C-3PO or Padmé would hear it.

Padmé opened the door a moment later, a look of confusion displayed on her features when she opened the door. Obi-Wan was there, so she had to put on a professional tone. "Master Kenobi, Master Skywalker. I wasn't expecting you here today?"

Usually Anakin would reply with something charming or polite, but he was too worried for his Padawan to even think about flirting with his wife. "Have you seen Ahsoka?"

Padmé frowned, "No? She left last night."

Anakin replied quickly, "Well, she's not at the Temple. We can't even sense her Force signature. We think something has happened to her." He said hurriedly, as if explaining the information quicker would help solve the problem faster.

Padmé shook her head, her worry becoming evident now. "No I haven't seen her..."

"Damn it..." Anakin growled, wracking his brains to think of a logical explanation as to where his apprentice could be.

Obi-Wan spoke, "Do you know where she might've parked her speeder?"

"Well it wasn't outside the apartment blocks when we got here, but he haven't checked the actual parking spaces in the building." Anakin replied.

Padmé quickly yelled to C-3PO that she was nipping out. She shut the door and followed the two Jedi down to where the speeders usually parked.

The three glanced around, not noticing anything that resembled Ahsoka's Flash Model 3 speeder.

"It's not here!" Anakin yelled, getting more stressed and worried by the minute.

Padmé walked forward a few steps, "The left side of the parking area is a lot more shaded and hidden than the rest. Let's check it out."

The two Jedi followed Padmé.

"That's it!" Anakin exclaimed, running over to it to check the numbers on the back to confirm it actually did belong to his padawan.

Obi-Wan raised a hand to his bearded chin, "This isn't good. It appears Ahsoka never left at all..."

"She'd tell me if she was going somewhere, especially if it was off planet. This just isn't adding up." Anakin analysed, studying her speeder as if it would give him all the answers to his questions. It didn't, much to his annoyance.

"Master Jedi, I think you should see this." Came Padmé's worried voice.

The two Jedi walked up to Padmé, who was couched on the floor.

A single drop of crimson blood had dried onto the metal floor. The drop was tiny, less than half the size of an old coin.

"Anakin, run to the speeder and grab a forensics kit. We need to get this tested."

Anakin nodded and took off towards the speeder. Within a minute he was back, crouching down to swipe the small drop with a cotton bud. Not wanting to contaminate the evidence, he dropped the cotton into a small plastic bag and sealed it.

"We need to get back to the Temple immediately." Said Anakin. They thanked Padmé for her help and ran to the speeder.

Things weren't looking good and Anakin couldn't help but think of the worst.

...

"Well is it hers or not?!" Anakin snarled at the flimsy droid in the medical bay.

The droid fumbled around, taking the blood sample out of the machine. "M-master Jedi it takes a few moments for the machine to match the DNA..."

Anakin slammed his hand down on the counter. "Can you not make it work any faster?! This is an emergency!"

Obi-Wan lay a hand on Anakin's shoulder, "Anakin calm down... He's doing all he can. Be patient, for once in your life."

The machine beeped and the droid pulled out the sample. "It's a match, Master Jedi. This is Padawan Tano's blood."

Obi-Wan raised a hand to his chin, "This is unsettling... So it seems Ahsoka has been missing for over 24 hours, this classes her as officially a missing person."

Anakin suddenly went pale. "Master, you don't think they have her, do you?"

Obi-Wan continued to think hard, "I'm not sure, Anakin. Unfortunately, it's a possibility. They did warn us to not send out research teams..."

"We need to alert the Council immediately." Anakin said angrily. If Ahsoka really had been taken by the strangers, they didn't even have a starting point as to where to search. Every time they even attempted to search, people were killed.

They arrived at the Council Chambers ten minutes later.

Anakin didn't even bother to knock, barging straight through the doors.

The council were sat in their usual positions. In the middle of the room was a hologram. The masked holographic figure turned around to face Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"Perfect timing, Master Jedi." He said, smirking underneath the white mask.

Anakin glared at him in response. "What have you done with her?" He snarled, taking a step forward.

He chuckled and held out his arms innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my friend. I haven't laid a harmful finger on her."

"You're lying." Anakin yelled, wishing he could kill the man on the spot; had he been there in the flesh and not a flashing hologram, he would've.

"Hm, technically, I'm not. I personally haven't done anything to her." He said flatly. "It's rude to go around accusing folk of such things."

"Tell me where she is!"

He ignored her and turned back to the council, facing towards Master Windu. "I did tell you to not investigate us, Master Jedi. This is punishment for searching for us."

"I asked you where she is!" Anakin yelled, capturing the governor's attention again.

He turned to face Anakin, "Well since you asked so politely I'll show how her visit with the dentist went today." He started to chuckle to himself.

"What?"

The holographic image flicked from the Governor to a different image. The hologram was a darker shade of blue, indicating that the room was darker.

Members of the Council gasped when they saw Ahsoka tied down to a chair. She was unconscious, her head hanging uselessly and her eyes closed.

Blood covered her entire upper half, her t-shirt drenched in the crimson liquid. Her face was visibly battered, her eyes swollen and black. There was a lot of blood around her legs, too.

The quality of the hologram wasn't great, but it was good enough to make out that Ahsoka wasn't in good shape - but she was breathing, which was a small relief.

Anakin felt anger flare up in him. "What the hell have you done to her!"

The image flicked back to the Governor. His tone darkened and he began to speak more seriously. "I can't reveal too much, but I will tell you this; They thoroughly enjoyed their time torturing her, I must say." He paused a moment before turning back to the rest of the Council members. "I'll be in touch very soon. If you're good and obey my orders, I might even give you daily updates on the condition of your precious Jedi Padawan. Good day."

The hologram flicked to Ahsoka again. Even in unconsciousness she looked in an awful lot of pain.

Anakin felt sick looking at the state of his Padawan. His fears had been confirmed; they had her. They had her and he was terrified for her. He felt like a failure for not protecting her. He felt anger at the Council for not listening to them - because of them, Ahsoka was being tortured without reason.

A few seconds later the hologram flicked off.

Every council member seemed to be at a loss for words.

Master Mundi was the first to break the silence, "This is disturbing. We have no leads and next to no information - but we cannot let this continue."

"Of course we can't!" Anakin yelled. "They've got Ahsoka! She's just a kid! How could they have done that to a kid?!"

Mace Windu silenced him, "Skywalker, keep your emotions in check. This is our main issue at the minute and we're doing everything we can at the minute."

"You're just sitting here doing nothing!"

Windu stared at him, "Well look what happened last time we took action without proper preparation and planning."

Anakin considered this for a moment. Master Windu did have a point, but how long was it going to take for them to come up with an effective plan?

Obi-Wan cut in, "Is there a way we can mask our investigation? For example, track down a known criminal 'suspected' of criminal activity. This could be our public mission - secretly we are researching and following up any leads that could become known."

Plo Koon, who had been silent for the whole conversation so far, agreed with Obi-Wan, "That may be a good suggestion, Kenobi. We must cover our tracks well, however. We cannot afford to slip up - for our sakes and Ahsoka's."

Anakin knew Plo was feeling exactly how he was - he'd been the one to discover the girl when she was 3, they had a close bond. Master Koon was a lot better at hiding his emotions, as well as keeping them in check. Anakin needed practise on that, and lots of it.

The other Council members agreed. Now all they had to do was finalise the plan.

...

Ahsoka awoke to a bright, white light shining in her eyes. She immediately shut them tightly but gasped when she felt pain shoot through her face and her neck.

She felt like she had some sort of fabric in her mouth. She ran her tongue along the mysterious material and cringed at the feeling of it on her tongue.

More accustomed the light now, Ahsoka opened her eyes a fraction.

She felt a sharp pain in her knee and whimpered. She tried to pull her leg away from whatever was prodding at it but found that she couldn't move her leg at all.

The memories of what happened came rushing back to her all at once and her heart started to pound and dread filled her entire being. Hyperventilating, Ahsoka tried to sit up, fear overcoming her.

"Shh, shh," said a calming voice. Ahsoka felt soft hands on her shoulder and montrals, "It's okay. You're out of that room now. Calm down." The voice was rather soothing, but it didn't help lessen Ahsoka's anxiety that much.

Ahsoka could open her eyes fully now. She was lay on a bed and almost everything was white. From her experiences fighting in the war, a white room meant she was in a medical bay. Other white beds around the room, though empty, confirmed this.

A middle aged human woman stood at the side of her. She was delicate and fragile, with dark circles under her eyes and wispy blonde hair hanging around her face. Her delicate hands held a palm-sized bacta patch.

Ahsoka tried to speak, but her voice was muffled by the material in her mouth. "Mhf, Where... m... I." She said.

The woman above her smiled sweetly at her, wiping Ahsoka's face with a wet cloth. She winced as it ran over the deep slice in her cheek, "You're in our medical bay. My name is Narla. I'm a medical expert and I treat the wounded here."

Ahsoka didn't say anything, knowing that Narla wouldn't be able to understand anything with all that fabric in her mouth. She just grunted in reply.

"You've received quite a few injuries, so I need you to relax for me, okay?" She paused a moment, deciding to answer all of the girl's questions before she even asked them. "That material in your mouth is to stop the bleeding. Try not to move your mouth too much, or it might fall down your throat. You lost four teeth all together. I'm currently putting bacta on your knees..." She said as she carefully poured some liquid bacta on her shattered knee cap.

Ahsoka protested, flinching and whining as the pain in her knee increased. She couldn't control her body, jolting and trembling whenever her knee was touched.

The pain was sucking out all of the energy from her body. Narla stroked her bruised face very gently. "You poor thing. I'm so sorry you have to go through this." She sounded genuine and Ahsoka could tell she was speaking exactly what she felt in her heart.

Ahsoka looked up at her through half open eyes, seeing Narla's glistening, soft brown eyes staring back at hers.

Ahsoka swore she saw a tear in her eye but couldn't be too sure, as she blacked out again from exhaustion.

When she awoke, she was back in her 'room'. She sat up, her head pounding vigorously.

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was the absence of her teeth. She tentatively ran her tongue over the holes where her teeth should be. Hissing in pain as the tip of her tongue brushed the sensitive areas, she counted that four teeth were missing: the canine tooth from the left on her bottom row of teeth, two molars from the top right and a molar from the top left.

Her head still throbbing, tried to move her legs. Pain shot up her legs and let out a shriek of pain. Both legs were in splints - which were more like stabilisers, since she could still see the skin on her legs - keeping them straight so the broken bone fragments could heal properly. It was extremely uncomfortable - she was so used to being flexible and having maximum movement at all times, it felt wrong to be kept like this.

Ahsoka slowly lowered herself down onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, the memories from her short encounter with the medical expert flooding into her mind.

She recalled waking up to a woman treating her wounds. She remembered that the woman looked very sad. What was her name?

The girl wracked her brains for the answer, but her memory was so hazy and her head hurt too much for her to think.

Her mouth was slightly agape - it was too painful for her to close it properly.

She lifted her hand and gently touched her face. She could feel swelling all around her face, especially around her mouth, cheeks and eyes. She ran her tongue over the swollen holes in her mouth again, scrunching her eyes together when memories of them being forcefully removed came into her mind.

She felt awful. She had never felt so fearful for her life and had never experienced so much pain. She didn't know if she could go through it all again.

She couldn't think of anything to compare to what she had felt in that chamber. She had never felt fear so crippling, had never felt pain so excruciating.

In her head, Ahsoka knew things were only going to get worse for her and life as she knew it.

She was confident that Anakin was trying his hardest to search for her; but she knew that the Strangers didn't leave any clues behind and they covered their tracks efficiently. They were smart, possibly too smart for the Republic and Jedi Order.

There was a soft knock on the wall, followed by a timid voice, "Ahsoka?"

The girl pushed herself up with her arms and shuffled along the floor, trying to keep her legs as still as possible. She bit her lip when pain started to shoot through her; though she carried on pushing herself along. She needed to know if Kato was alright as well.

She timidly knocked on the wall, feeling weak and exhausted. "I'm here." She found it really hard to speak, her mouth throbbing every time she moved her jaw even half a centimetre.

"You sound awful... D-did they take you?" He asked hesitantly.

Ahsoka took a deep breath, shivering as she thought about everything she'd experienced. "Yeah."

"Are you okay?" He sounded terrified, the fear evident in his shaky voice.

"No." She didn't want to lie to him; giving him false hope could only make his situation worse. What would be the point in pretending she was okay? She wasn't. If she made it out of here eventually, the memories and scars would be with her for the rest of her life.

There was a pause before the boy spoke. "What did they do to you?" The way he was speaking made him sound like he didn't want to know.

Ahsoka sighed and looked at the state of her knees. "They ripped out my teeth... Then they shattered my knee caps with a hammer..." Her voice started to tremble and tears started to form in her swollen eyes.

He didn't reply for over a minute.

"Kato?"

Another minute of silence.

"I don't want to die here..." He said timidly.

"We won't. The Jedi are coming, I know it. We won't die here." She croaked, her voice coarse and rough from screaming and throwing up.

She tried to avert the conversation to something else, not wanting Kato to feel too scared. As a Jedi, she was always taught to put other people before herself, and that's what the planned to do, even though she just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. "So where are you from?"

"Coruscant. I lived with my family, they owned a bar on level 1311." He said.

Coruscant? Could it be a coincidence that they were both from Coruscant?

Ahsoka was silent as she thought about the matter. It could be possible that the strangers were based on Coruscant or maybe they at least had a connection there.

"I'm from Coruscant, too. Are you human?" She had assumed he was by his accent and they way he spoke, but now she knew he was from Coruscant she couldn't be sure. Usually when people had lived there all their lives they lost their accent and picked up the basic accent that Coruscant had.

"Yeah. What about you?"

"Togruta. I left my home planet when I was three."

He laughed a little, "Yeah, I noticed you didn't have an accent so I assumed you were human. If you lived on Coruscant that long, it's expected to lose any kind of accent really."

"I thought the exact same about you." She croaked. "Do you have any hobbies? Like sports or writing?"

"Not really. I like researching into animals and learning about them. I want to be an expert when I'm older."

Ahsoka smiled, "That sounds interesting. How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen. I'm guessing you're a similar age?" He asked.

Looks like her plan was working. It worked as a little distraction for herself as well.

"Sixteen standard." She replied, tracing random shapes onto the wall with her fingers. She tried hard not to look at her legs - she knew a wave of nausea would hit her if she saw the state of her knees. Her right knee hurt considerably more than her left, maybe the break was worse. She'd have to mention it to the healer next time she saw her - if she ever saw her again.

"How are you coping so well with all of this? You seem so calm..." He trailed off.

"I've in situations somewhat similar before. I'm confident someone is coming for us, you have to trust me."

She trusted her Master. The amount of faith she had in him was phenomenal, she knew he was coming, or at least doing something to try and find her.

"Similar situations?" Came his hurried reply, "Are you kidding?"

"No. I'm a Jedi."

As soon as the word 'Jedi' left her lips, Ahsoka heard Kato gasp. "You're a Jedi? Can't you break us out of here using the force then?!" She could hear hope and even a little frustration in his voice.

"No, I can't. They have some sort of force field or something around here. I can't use the force here. Trust me if I could, I would've busted us out of here. I can't even feel the force, it's just... absent."

"Oh..." He said quietly, his voice completely absent of hope and motivation.

"Kato. I can't control what happens in here. But I promise, we're going to make it out alive. I swear on it."

...

 **Apologised for the lateness on this chapter...**

 **As mentioned before I work full time and I'm extremely busy! I hope you're all still interested in this and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Please review!**


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